Many web directories’ general scope is to list websites and businesses by categories and region. Shopping directories have a large number of sites specialised in listing retail e-commerce sites. The defunct DMOZ and Yahoo directory are examples of very well-known general web directories.

The quality of directories is in debate. Many attempts have been made to make the use of directories easier, for example, use of automated submission of link related to script which is bad since there is no editorial discretion involved whatsoever. There are thousands of web directories charging from a few dollars to hundreds, although, only a few are authoritative, high quality directories. The list below shows lists some of the best human edited web directories:

Just because there’s only a few of them left and these tend to apply a high editorial discretion, thus giving trustworthiness by all means. Human edited directories are created and maintained by editors who add links manually (or review every suggested resource) based on their policies.